


Animorphs Drabble Dump (Mostly Cassie/Rachel?)

by sentimatra



Category: Animorphs (TV), Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate
Genre: Cassie/Rachel - Freeform, F/F, Fluff, Gen, How Do I Tag, Hugging, Love, girl's love, mainly Cassie n Rachel interaction, morphing, platonic, romantic, the boys are kind of there but Tobias has more than one line compared to them
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-05-13 09:47:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5703205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sentimatra/pseuds/sentimatra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I honestly don't know what I'm gonna do with this aside from Cassie/Rachel drabbles if I ever do more than like....three stories. These are animorphs drabbles. It's my headcanon that the Animorphs are a platonic/romantic ot6 medley but I do not have sexual ot6 exploits in plan for these drabbles. Just fluff and feelings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. haven't seen you in a while

Cassie may be imagining it, but between Rachel finding her Grizzly morph, and definitely after they almost lose Cassie in the Yeerk base within the same week, Rachel embraces Cassie more frequently and a little bit tighter. Even though she's totally not the huggy-type. Cassie thinks it's some sort of leftover “maternal-ism” from how she deals with her sisters. Rachel denies being scared of a lot of things but she isn't cold. Cassie knows that.

After the Yeerk base incident where Cassie nearly gets captured, Rachel is furious. The fur on her bear morph's neck visibly bristles before they all find a safe spot to go to their bird morphs and fly  back to Cassie's barn. Even the flight there, Cassie can feel her anger in the absence of chatter. No cursing, no "we kicked Yeerk butt", just silence.

In the barn, Rachel stands off to the side as the rest of the team make sure Cassie's okay, Jake lingering with a hand on Cassie's shoulder before looking down at his watch and sighing that he had to go--it was a couple of hours before nightfall. They all had homework that despite slacking on, they knew they had to do to keep their parents from paying more attention to them. He looks really conflicted but glances at Rachel and nods at her before leaving.

When only Tobias is left up in the rafters, Rachel walks towards the smaller girl. Cassie turns towards her, eyes patient to whatever verbal reproach she thinks Rachel's going to dish out. Only, when Rachel furrows her brow and opens her mouth, closes it and says nothing, Cassie tilts her head, confused.

"Rach'? Are you o--"

Rachel gives up on trying to speak and wraps her arms around Cassie's shoulders, maybe a little too tight. But Cassie's arms, after a couple second's delay, wrap around Rachel's waist firmly. They're both quiet among the sound of the animals moving in their cages, Tobias's wings rustling as he preened. Rachel doesn't feel embarrassed by Tobias' presence because she knew he wouldn't tease her for showing affection (or fear, or hesitation).

She wants to ask Cassie if she's okay, or tell her it'll all be fine in the morning--that somehow the sunrise will wipe everything away but...she knew the latter wasn't true and Cassie was always better at picking just what to say anyway.

Rachel steps back and her hands linger at Cassie's shoulders, waiting for Cassie to meet her eyes. Cassie smiles, small and genuine. But cautious. This calm was temporary. They'd be thrown back into it again.

"I'm fine."

Rachel regards her dark-brown eyes carefully, her blue boring into hers before nodding and turning to Tobias.

<I'll fly home with you.> he says softly in thought-speak. He focuses his gaze on Cassie. <I know you said you're ‘fine', but if you're ever not ‘fine’...>

Cassie nods. "I know, Tobias. Thank you."

Cassie hugs her arms to her body as she watches the silhouette of an owl and a hawk disappear into the night.

 

\--

Cassie is by no means weak, though she's smaller than All-Star-Gymnast Rachel. Cassie's arms are thicker from working in the barn for ages, wrestling open the maws of foxes and wolves. She takes more comfort in being strong-willed, or as Marco would call her:"a tree-hugging extremist". Physical strength only got you so far.

The week they found out the Yeerks were destroying the forest was a wild one. Cassie had felt like her brain was a tennis ball and Venus and Serena were playing for the championships with it.

Killer or savior? Could she ever solely be one and not the other?

Humans were too complex but at the same time so so clumsy. Nature was both blood red and verdant green--you couldn't have it's harshness without it's softness. The Andalite's Gift was double-sided; humans with the capability to morph disturbed the cycles of life and death that nature went through.

But life and death did persist in all cases. And even people--or--beings like the Ellimist had rules right?

Now, going through all this deep shit was fine in her bedroom or solid steady ground, but Cassie was on a tall ladder in the barn reaching for a bucket on a shelf.

She missteps during her internal monologue. As her foot tangles with one of the rungs and gravity acts on her tiny body, she wonders faintly how pathetic it would be to have "death-by-ladder" engraved on her tombstone. Before she hits the ground, two arms catch her abruptly around her waist with a rather feminine grunt and Cassie's boots collide much more gently with the wood of the barn floor.

Startled well enough out of her thoughts, Cassie cranes her neck up and leans back to see who caught her. Blonde hair hangs down around blue eyes, eyebrows arched.

 

"Fallen for me?" Rachel quips after a beat.

 

Cassie rolls her eyes and pushes out of Rachel's (very well toned) arms. " _'Right on time_ ,'" she hums under her breath as she rebalances herself. She knows she shouldn't have listened exclusively to _The Brothers Johnson_ for three days straight.

 

"What?"

 

"I said,'thanks'," Cassie says, re-clipping her overall button that came unclipped in the fall.

 

"Are you alright?" Rachel's blue eyes are still examining her, concern winning out over the smirk on her face. A white tee and denim shorts were normally severely basic items of clothing...on anyone other than Rachel. Rachel's hair is up in a ponytail but a few strands are out on the sides. She looks strangely ready to work in a pair of Timberland's, despite the lack of missions for today.

Cassie gives her a tight smile and nods. "I'm good."

Despite Cassie's words, Rachel presses the back of her hand to Cassie's forehead and Cassie's faintly reminded of the time Rachel was sick from the crocodile morph. Rachel's hand is warm against her skin, and Cassie feels her cheeks get warm too. She grasps Rachel's hand to pull it away from her forehead but she ends up still holding onto it in the space between them.

"I said I was _fine_. Mother." She sees Rachel wince at the last word and squeezes her hand lightly to hopefully soften the blow. "Don't worry about me."

Rachel sets her jaw and looks like she wants to argue that she _wasn't_ worrying about Cassie, thank you very much, but she just turns and pulls her hand away, changes the subject after clearing her throat. 

"I came to help you out here in the barn," she says, back to Cassie as she looks at the clipboards hung up on the barn wall with the tasks of the day. "I was still feeling restless after I flew around with Tobias this morning. So."

"So you came to help me? My hero," Cassie says sweetly, if not a bit distractedly as she goes back up the ladder for the bucket. Once she grabs it she grins down at Rachel who's already looking up at her with trepidation. "I was JUST about to clean the poop out of Raccoon Number Two's cage."

Rachel grimaces and eyes the bucket then Cassie's feet on the rungs of the ladder. "Here, I'll do it. Just get down from there." She takes the bucket. "Making me nervous," she mutters.

Cassie's hides her smile when she turns to get Raccoon number one for its daily medicine dose, but warmth sparks in her chest.

\--

Sometime after the Buffa-Human incident (Cassie shudders) Rachel goes on a summer trip with her father that she can't get out of for two weeks or so, which leaves the Animorphs without their  _Warrior Queen_. 

Marco and Cassie try to channel Rachel when they dive-bomb as ospreys into a battle against Human-Controllers but Marco just remarks after the battle when they've demorphed that it just...isn't the same. Cassie smiles morosefully.

She busied herself with barn-work, when she wasn't out avoiding death by Dracon Beam, and she works enough to the point that her mom and dad usher her out of the barn and over to Marco or Jake's. She goes with them to the mall arcade a couple of times but can't find it within herself to focus on the joystick controls. She ends up pulling out her reading homework and actually finishing it before Erek calls them up with an emergency. The human-controllers and Hork-Bajirs seem to be even more jumpy when the Animorphs show up without a giant Grizzly Bear in tow; they're all on edge because they expect it to barrel out of nowhere. Cassie finds herself half hoping this, that it would be  _very_ Rachel-esque, but the battle drags on with no bear in sight.

 

Cassie walks into the barn one evening, expecting it to be empty except for the animals. But there's a creak and a hushed whisper, putting her on high alert. She steps in carefully, setting her bag to the side.

"Hello?"

 

At first she doesn't spot anyone, save for Tobias sitting perched in the rafters.

 

<Hey, Cassie.>

 

"Hey, Tobias...," Cassie says carefully, still looking around. She knows hawks can't whisper. "There's someone else here...isn't there?" Cassie continues. If it was someone dangerous, Tobias wouldn't seem so relaxed.

 

<Uhhh...>

 

"Tobias--" she warns but she's cut off by someone slamming into her side and folding her into a hug that makes her stagger backwards. "What the he--" There's blonde hair and a familiar perfume.

 

"Rachel!"

 

Rachel pulls away but keeps her hands on Cassie's shoulders. "What's up?" she grins, smile bright as the sun. She's in a denim jacket and black shorts this time, a yellow shirt under the jacket that

brings out her golden locks.

 

Cassie's torn between being annoyed that Rachel just tackled her and gave her a heart attack, and being elated that she's back. It comes out in a breathless laugh and Cassie puts a hand over her chest, trying to settle her pulse.

"Way to send me to an early grave, you butt." She wraps her arms around Rachel's waist to reassure herself: YES, Rachel is actually HERE. She sighs in contentment. Rachel only hesitates a moment before putting her arms back around Cassie's shoulders. When Cassie lays her head on Rachel's collarbone she notices that the top of Rachel's shoulder is harder for her to reach. She'd have to stand on her tip-toes.

She snorts into the fabric of Rachel's jacket, her sentence muffled.

 

"You got taller, didn't you?"

 

Rachel sits her chin on top of Cassie's head as an answer and a light fluttery feeling goes from Cassie's chest through to her toes.

 

The farm-girl laughs then mutters, "Everyone is taller than me now."

 

Rachel looks down at her, "Even Marco?" She looks legitimately surprised at this.

 

Cassie huffs. "Not really. It's barely noticeable." She knows her voice escalated in pitch through that whole sentence. She looks up to see Rachel's one eyebrow raised silently calling bullshit, then the eyebrow went back down, a smile curling at her lips.

"No, no! I totally believe you. Marco is forever stuck at five-foot-four."

 

"I am five-foot-SIX, thank you!"

 

They turn slightly to see Marco stroll in with Jake and Ax, in his human morph.

The farm-girl moves away from Rachel but straightens out the lapel of Rachel's jacket before turning to sit on one of the empty overturned boxes. She may not like shopping for clothes but she knows how Rachel is about rumpled clothing. Rachel shoots her one of her softer smiles before turning to the guys.

 

"Glad to see that Xena and Gabby are reunited once more," Marco says in a sickly-sweet tone. Rachel punches him in the shoulder and he puts up his hands in surrender. "Hey! I meant it in good fun! Sheesh. You get taller and stronger every month don't you? You sure you aren't _She-Hulk_?"

They squabble some more, Jake trying to play peacekeeper with a smile on his face. Ax seems to be trying to assist him but keeps getting distracted by the sounds his words make, so it's not too effective. Cassie only faintly gets the "Xena & Gabby" reference in that she's seen the show a couple of times before. But she doesn't watch TV too much these days.

 

Tobias hops down to a crate near Cassie. <It's good that they're fighting...right?>

 

Cassie shrugs, nods. "They're happy to see each other. It's only normal."

 

Rachel threatens to hurl Marco out the window.

 

<Oh.You mean _our_ 'normal'. >

 

Cassie smiles. The warmth that was in her chest several times before slowly spreads to her stomach. She wonders if she should get it checked out but she's distracted by the sound of one the animals rustling in its cage and it’s back to work she goes.

\--


	2. please don't go, I'll eat you up, I love you so

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is a little something inspired by maurice sendak and little bear. Also what i like to call a "true drabble" b/c there's no true ending to this really? and it wanders. 
> 
> and i didn't want to write any underage kissing tbh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> as for continuity, this originally took place after Animorphs #48: The Return, where Crayak takes Cassie and Rachel has to save her gurl-- but I realized that a lot of things (Feelings, places, etc) would be inaccurate if I place it IN the actual timeline. So you can take this as like, "Crayak messes with them a bit earlier than #48".
> 
> this is handwavey af til i reread the series...again.
> 
> sorry for any other errors, or cringiness the fluff may evoke

_“And the wild things roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws. ”_

_-Maurice Sendak , Where The Wild Things Are_

It starts during an argument, the summer before their final clash with the Yeerks.

Cassie's hair is cut short but growing again, dark brown coils and curls several inches thick. Her eyes shine a lighter brown with the heat of the argument that Rachel wanted to step away from.

Because when Cassie is seriously pissed--about anything relating to the Yeerks at least-- there's a muscle in her jaw on the right side of her face that jumps. If she's mad enough, her lips will bare her teeth, clenched & grinding (the wolf's habits now hers from years of sharing headspace).

Her eyes will edge into gold.

Rachel --longlegged, fearless, berserker-Rachel-- wanted to avoid angering the smaller girl because this decision was Rachel's to make and there should be no debate about it.

The mission of the day had gone sour, Rachel nearly dying in bear morph, guts spilling out. Nothing too different but something they typically tried to avoid.

Nothing debatable about the situation, because if she hadn't moved in front of Cassie, a wolf would've been very thoroughly gutted by Visser Three that day.

 

"Rachel," Cassie speaks, her voice an even tone that steadily got more agitated. "Do you think I don't know what you're doing?"

Rachel scoffs. "Protecting you guys? It's what I do NORMALLY when we're out on life-threatening missions." She folds her arms and meets Cassie's glare."It's something I always do. You're fucking welcome."

Cassie raises a finger, shakes her head once. "No."

Rachel's arms unfold and fall at her sides in the spark of indignance that rises in her chest. "'No'? 'No', what??"

"No." Cassie goes to speak, blinks rapidly and looks up at the ceiling while gauging her thoughts and her temper with the same finger still out in front of her. She meets Rachel's eyes again evenly, still angry, and takes a step into her space. "You have either come close to death, for ME. SPECIFICALLY. Or stepped in front of me during my OWN battles, for the past FIVE missions."

Rachel can only quell her reactionary anger enough to do a really shitty job of not yelling back, "I was protecting you!" while glaring down at Cassie. "Why is it a BAD thing that I don't want you to die???"

Cassie's eyes turn a little sad, but she maintains eye contact, mouth still set from her anger. "Rachel. You know I can handle myself in a fight. But all of this--you didn't start being so---so hyper aware of me until after last month. After Crayak."

Rachel seems stuck and opens her mouth to say something but instead glowers at the floor.

"Rachel," Cassie says soft but stern, hand cupping Rachel's chin to pull her out of the childish pout. Rachel's face colors slightly at her touch but to pull her face away would be to betray herself quicker. She meets Cassie's eyes that are more brown than gold now. "If Marco or Tobias, or even Jake started consistently doing this to you, wouldn't you be mad?"

The blonde feels her heart still, in part from understanding, the other from their proximity. She's sure her face is getting hotter and in a contained panic, she turns her head away from Cassie's palm, eyes downcast again.

"Yes. I understand," she says. "I'll...try to stop. But. It's different."

The moment Rachel sees a glimmer of perplexed understanding (because Cassie could always see through people with her fucking Jean-Grey-Tier empathy) the gymnast leaves quickly, at a long stride, then a jog once she exits the barn, knowing Cassie's shorter legs can't keep up.

\--

After that, Rachel, in stubborn retaliation, keeps her distance from Cassie but to a petty extreme. She doesn't answer Cassie's calls that following weekend, her mother giving her a strange look when Rachel tells her to say she's not home, and turns down group offers to hit up the mall (if they’re not code for a mission). That weekend is so quiet Yeerk-wise that it gives her time with her thoughts--which is terrible and Rachel attempts to avoid them by going to the gym and taking mile runs around the neighborhood in the early morning.

Tobias drops by on Sunday night to ask why she's being so weird. Rachel fumbles through a response, instead asks, “Do I...after Crayak trapped Cassie, up to now. Have I been--?”

'Crowding her? Yes.'

Rachel groans because Tobias sees it and if he sees it then she has no doubt the rest of them see it too.

“Oh my God.”

Rachel covers her face with a pillow, because that statement _definitely_ makes her feel better. It’s only a moment before Tobias says softly, 

'I'm pretty sure Jake used to do it more often. But its kind of covered up since he's our leader and all that. It's fine though. That you feel that way. Maybe stop crowding though?'

“Can we please talk about literally _anything_ else.”

Tobias replies, 'Of course. Whatever you want,' a soft chuckle decorating his tone.

\--

Funnily enough, it's in school that Cassie corners her, right before the last class of the day starts; a conveniently empty period where Cassie plops her books down on the desk in front of Rachel and turns around, sitting her head prettily on her hands that are on the top of her seat. Rachel's cornered because if she runs again--in an environment where they're bound to inevitably see each other again, she's even more of a coward than she was the past weekend. Cassie would read her cowardice without even having to say anything.

Rachel sighs slowly and, since she's resigned to the fact that she won't move anywhere, takes Cassie's outfit in. She's wearing a mostly white dress with pastel green flower-print and a blue jean jacket. Her shoes are blue Converses, slightly scuffed. And the jacket has a hole in the sleeve but. She put actual effort into her outfit today? And this time, Rachel's the one who's dressed down in a hoodie and jeans.

Rachel's eyebrows arch. "So..."

"So?" Cassie tilts her head. Waiting. Very patiently.

"You...aren't wearing overalls today."

"Very astute observation, Holmes," Cassie replies saucily. "I can look nice when I want to. But now that I obviously have your attention--," Rachel blushes, "What does 'it's different' mean?"

Rachel's cheeks must be on fire. She wants to sink into her chair. But she grips the edges of her desk to steel herself.

"You already know what it means," she mutters.

"Maybe."

That's a definite 'yes'.

"But I want to hear you tell me."

Rachel bites her lip hard enough to spur herself to spit it out. "I." _Don't be a coward._ "Care. For you. Deeply." Cassie blinks, tilts her head the other way as if that wasn't the right answer. It isn't. It's too formal and stilted. Like Jake.

Oh GOD you don't want to be like Jake! "I like you. Non-platonically. "

Rachel hates that Cassie's small smile is so knowing. It's as if she remembers to be abashed though, conscious of how long she was holding Rachel's gaze (how Rachel's still holding her gaze with an ounce of determination to just NOT be like Jake, still a bit in shock about having to talk about "feelings") and looks off to the side, nodding.

Rachel can see the dimple in her cheek (on the left side of her face) before Cassie schools herself enough to reply, "Good. I 'like' you too."

The class files in as the bell rings, erasing their mock privacy. Cassie turns back around in her seat. And Rachel thinks that's it for the scary conversation.

The "I ‘like’ you too" is just beginning to filter into her brain, making her sweat when she hears Cassie continue, "Then again I always have."

 _‘Always ‘???_ Rachel wants to yell, but she balls up her fists, crumpling the edge of her notes up by mistake.

Because she's realized this week that she's maybe felt this since the first grade, when Cassie rambled on about horses for five minutes straight in art class before stopping herself, embarrassed.

_"Sorry, you probably don't wanna' hear about-- horses all day."_

_Rachel had shrugged. "You love and work with animals so why wouldn't you want to talk about them? I don't know much about horses anyway. I don't mind."_

_This was different from her younger sisters rambling somehow. It came without the yelling and screaming and snot. And didn't sound like it came from some encylopedia (though she's sure Cassie was working her way through those as well)._

_Cassie had slowly smiled at her despite Rachel's intense focus on her Wonder Woman tracing, and kept the smile for the rest of class._

-

_“But the wild things cried, “Oh please don't go- We'll eat you up- we love you so!”_

-

They don't really get a moment to touch on said Feelings until they're flying back from another mission, exhausted and with things they still have to do.

Cassie's parents aren't home this week, something about an animal rehabilitation center up north needing their expertise for a day or so, and Rachel had told her mom she was sleeping over at Cassie’s so she wasn't totally lying for once. She gives her mom a call to let her know she's there as soon as she gets into Cassie's house. Just "a really late movie held them up and all."

"Do you want the shower first?" Cassie asks.

Rachel has the energy to chuckle. "It's your house, Cassie. I can wait."

There's a strange space of quiet where Rachel just. Regards Cassie, realizing they haven't really talked about “The Feelings” further but not wanting to bring said elephant into the room. To solidify it.

(Elephants in houses were typically bad, as far as she's concerned.)

Cassie sighs, not unkindly, regarding Rachel in turn. Her eyes get stuck on something on Rachel's forehead and she huffs out a laugh behind a hand.

"What?"

"Nothing you just--have something on your--," Cassie reaches out a hand towards her forehead and Rachel bends a little, still confused. "I know we both landed in a garbage bin today, but you have lettuce AND sauce plastered on your head," Cassie laughs, her other hand touching the nape of Rachel's neck, forearm resting on Rachel's shoulder.

When Rachel laughs too, she's not thinking of the blood under both their fingernails, the pieces of their foes still stuck between their teeth.

-

After Rachel takes her shower and brushes her teeth with the spare brush Cassie keeps for her, she gets dressed. She has some clean underclothes that she keeps leaving at Cassie’s, but the shorts she slides on and The Gardens sweater are both the smaller girl’s. A little too tight but still comfy enough to sleep in.

Also they were _Cassie’s_. So they smelled like her room--like the mango butter and coconut oil stuff she put in her hair. And Rachel’s hair smelled like her coconut shampoo that she tried to avoid weirdly sniffing.

Cassie’s in the kitchen, sitting down and writing an essay with a cup of coffee and a half eaten sandwich off to the side. She’s in--what looks like a hoodie Rachel’s been looking for.

No, it’s definitely the one she’s been looking for. The one with Max from _Where The Wild Things Are_ in his wolf suit and crown.

“So _you_ had it all this time!” Rachel gasps.

Cassie startles a little, manages to take her pen off the page before she makes a mistake. The coffee has her a little more on edge and she fidgets with the already rolled-up sleeves as she sits back and smiles sheepishly. “It’s warm?”

“You’re not even a ‘Max’,” Rachel says, a smile on her face since she’s nowhere close to mad. Amused, yes. Weirdly thrilled Cassie’s been stealing her clothes…also, yes.

Cassie huffs, annoyed, “I don’t have to be Max,” she turns back to her paper, attempting to pick up where she left off.

“If you were, I’d have to be a Wild Thing,” Rachel taunts. She knows that in the book, the Wild Things beg Max to stay and he doesn’t and she hopes Cassie forgets that detail.

She cringes a little so nope, no forgetting there. “We don’t have to _be_ anyone in that book. You can just-- _enjoy_ the book,” she says exasperatedly fond.

“What’s wrong with being ‘King of The Wild Things’?”

\---------------

“What’s wrong with being ‘King of The Wild Things’?”

Rachel says this, and Cassie wants to groan because it is exactly A Thing She’d Say. No matter that Max returns home because he wants to feel loved, Cassie’s stuck on the idea of Rachel being both Max and A Wild Thing. She’s definitely looking too much into this because of the coffee and the essay in front of her and the “It’s almost midnight,” apprehension.

The hoodie she’d kept because she’d cried into it after their first mission and it still smelled like Rachel at the time. She’s had to wash it since then, regrettably.

Cassie blurts, “You could be Little Bear.”

Rachel frowns, and Cassie _knows_ that it’s because Little Bear doesn’t sound very badass. “Isn’t that a cartoon character?”

Cassie rolls her eyes. Now she _has_ to show her.

She pulls out two thin books from her shelf, puts one back. The one she keeps has a pen drawing of a brown bear sitting across from a girl in a blue dress.

“It was a children’s book series with illustrations by Sendak, but written by Else Holmelund Minarik.”

Rachel’s sitting up on Cassie’s tiny twin bed, up against the pillows on the right because Cassie’s not going to let her sleep on the floor. Cassie slides in next to her, ending up leaning into her side, head under Rachel’s chin. She flips through the pages slow, paying more attention to the pictures than the words.

Rachel puffs out a laugh (not unkind, not mean), at the adventurous bear, the charming drawings. She points at Emily, “So are you her? If I’m Little Bear.”

Cassie frowns a little and Rachel laughs.

“I _can_ be. But she can be stubborn and….rude,” Cassie clarifies. “I’d rather be the mom.”

“You’d rather be MY mom?” Rachel’s still laughing.

“Never mind. Forget it. I’m not in any stories. Forget the whole thing,” Cassie puts the book aside and hides her face and sinks down lower into the covers.

Rachel looks down at the drawings of the gently smiling animals. “You’re definitely more Little Bear than Max, and I’m definitely more Max than Little Bear. But okay, Cassie.”

Rachel turns off the lamp, knowing either of them can only sleep in the dark with company and slides under the covers.

Cassie wakes up the first time in the middle of the night, with Rachel’s arm slung over her waist and her nose buried into Cassie’s neck and it’s familiar enough and she’s tired enough that she falls back to sleep. The second time it’s morning and she’s turned to face in towards Rachel’s neck, and Rachel’s definitely awake, propped up slightly. With the slightest turn of her head she can tell that the arm not on her waist is holding up a book.

Cassie props herself up on her elbows to look at the time--2 hours before the clock will ring for them to get ready for school-- and turns to look at whatever page Rachel’s on.

It’s the “Little Bear’s Friend” book still, and she’s towards the end, a picture of Emily on the opposite page reading a piece of paper.

Rachel looks down at Cassie, the same fond smirk she gave her when they found out Cassie was being a surrogate skunk mom. “You are _so_ Little Bear.”

Cassie closes her eyes and sighs. “I’m sure you’ll tell me why.”

Rachel clears her throat and reads, in a tone childishly high and playful, “‘It is snowing. I love the snow, I wish I could send you some. Owl, Duck, Hen and Cat send their love. So do the ducklings. I cannot wait for summer.’ Cassie, it’s you.” When Cassie’s still quiet, eyes closed, but smile humoring her she continues. “Remember when we sent each other letters when I went to that gymnast camp the summer before we started middle school?”

“I remember because I missed you so much,” Cassie’s eyes opened. “And nobody that I knew-- that I saw almost everyday and cared about had left me for that long --yet.” There had been longer trips after that that her parents had been on, longer than their current visitation up north that Cassie had adapted to, stayed at Rachel’s even when she was too young to take care of the farm all by herself.

“ You’d have a whole paragraph about the animals you’d helped your parents with that week. And you’d always end them ‘Love and miss you’. And I’d say ‘Wish you were here,’ because all the other girls at that camp were bitches.”

“Rachel!” Cassie scolds.

“It’s true,” Rachel shrugs. “You would’ve made it more bearable.”

Cassie, propping her head up on her hand again, bats her eyelashes. “You think too much of me. I couldn’t even get into a camp like that since I fall on my face doing handstands.”

“Mm. That’s why I love you though,” Rachel says, offhanded yet honest, flipping through the book again.

Cassie waits. They still haven’t really talked about what she brought up in school earlier but she doesn’t want to scare Rachel off.

Rachel’s blushing when she looks over at Cassie’s arched eyebrows and tiny smile. “I said what I said.”

Cassie’s beaming, even though she _knew it_ it’s always nice to be 99% sure. “Rachel, we’re moving so fast---from _like_ to LOVE in 3 days.” Her voice gets muffled by a pillow over her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still attempting to get a better setup and environment that doesn't uninspire me to type up my stories without having to resort to typing my fanfic in a library in the "open" lol. Meaning "Galaxies Will Come To Be" will be updated once I have something resembling a working laptop. This was a drabble I had sitting on my drive that I just decided to add to b/c why not.
> 
> edit; the pov changes from 2nd to 3rd in some spots???? i will.... fix it later.....  
> edit 2: from the way I pasted this in from google drives html converter it erased what tobias says to rachel since I had it in thoughtspeak. Changed it to single quotation marks so it doesnt think its code.

**Author's Note:**

> there was another chunk to this but I felt like it didn't belong in this "chapter". i'll post that one when it's edited. this is really just all of my pent up emotions for Cassie and Rachel lol. i apologize.


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